I may have posted this Swedish Apple Pie recipe before, but it’s Thanksgiving, or as I call it in my head Pietime. Anyway, here’s the recipe for the best and dead simplest apple pie ever. I suggest making 2 of these pies at a time. You’ll just be disappointed if there aren’t any leftovers.

I’m helping to put on a fun event this weekend in Union Square. Going Nutty! features nuts from Superior Nut being used by chefs from all over Boston (Flour Bakery, Kickass Cupcakes, Channel Cafe, Rocca, OM Restaurant, Bloc 11, and how2heroes) in some of their favorite dishes.

If you want to get nuts this weekend, come to Bloc 11 and Grand from 2-4 PM on Sunday the 4th. All proceeds benefit the newly founded Juniper Fund, which was formed to honor John S. Hall, bass player for local band Addison Groove Project, who passed away in 2004. To RSVP or for more info, check out the Facebook Page.

In his latest Op-Ed for the Times, Michael Pollan sounds an optimistic note that even the worst case health care reforms will result in positive changes to the diets, and health, of most Americans. It will be a hard fight, but it’s expected that the bare minimum health care reform will make it harder for insurance companies to drop you when you get sick, while also not allowing them to decide to cover you or not based on preexisting conditions. This means, that for the first time, health insurance providers will actually be financially rewarded for keeping you healthy. If they have to face the consequences ($$$) of your soda drinking ass getting diabetes, they’re going to do what they can to make sure you don’t get diabetes, and they’re going to use their friends in Congress to help them.

But these rules may well be about to change â€” and, when it comes to reforming the American diet and food system, that step alone could be a game changer. Even under the weaker versions of health care reform now on offer, health insurers would be required to take everyone at the same rates, provide a standard level of coverage and keep people on their rolls regardless of their health. Terms like â€œpre-existing conditionsâ€ and â€œunderwritingâ€ would vanish from the health insurance rulebook â€” and, when they do, the relationship between the health insurance industry and the food industry will undergo a sea change.

Chef Will Gilson of Cambridge’s Garden at the Cellar is raising two cute pigs, Porcini and Truffle, for slaughter later this summer in anticipation of a dinner at the James Beard House in New York. The pigs are being raised on a farm, not at the restaurant, but I still think it’s notable. I like eating meat, but I also think people should make a conscious decision about what they’re eating. Articles like this that put a cute face on your pork chop force you to think about it. More chefs raising their own animals (hopefully as close to the restaurant as possible) will mean better educated eaters, and I hope more local chefs adopt this way of sourcing meat.